


A Perfect Love Story

by orphan_account



Category: Cinderella (2015), Cinderella (Fairy Tale)
Genre: Cinderella 2015 Inspired, Cinderella Elements, F/M, Male Cinderella, Swapped Roles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-04-08 12:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4305057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashley Tremaine is an abused servant who lives with his step-family and best friend, Ida.</p><p>Faye Bennett is a rich princess who lives at the palace with her father and the entirety of the palace servants and guards.</p><p>What were to happen if they met? What were to happen if they met under the watchful eyes of the king?</p><p>What were to happen if they fell in love? Well nothing obviously, it was unheard of for a princess and a servant to be with each other. Or was it?</p><p>Welcome to the story of an insignificant servant and a stubborn princess.</p><p>(Warning: May get graphic further on into the story so may be triggering.)</p><p>(Also found on my Wattpad profile: Blue_Topaz_)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Ashley Tremaine

Ashley Tremaine had been the laughing stock of his household for as long as he could remember. 

His mother died when he was 6 so his memories of her were distorted and his father had died just after Ashley had turned 18. Unluckily for him, his father had decided to re-marry.

The Lady Tremaine was a respectable woman, who's husband had passed away a few months previous, she had two sons: Arden and Drake and a servant girl named Ida. 

On their arrival the poor girl had to stand on the back of the carriage next to the footman as the Lady Tremaine refused to be seen sitting in a carriage with her. Ida was only wearing a short sleeved dress and the weather had not been to pleasant during that morning, meaning the poor girl had nearly frozen to death. 

Ida and Ashley, or Ash as the Tremaines liked to call him after his father died, became good friends due to their constant closeness because of their job. They taught each other how to do things that would be deemed inappropriate if Lady Tremaine found out, between them they learned how to cook, sew, polish boots, do they laundry, together they were able to feed the animals that resided outside in a decent amount of time. The only thing Ida refused to teach Ashley was how to dress a woman correctly, and vice versa for Ashley. Lady Tremaine was the only women in the house that needed someone to dress her and Ida was rather capable of handling the job of her own accord, even if the Lady was quite able to do it herself. 

After Ashley's father died, Lady Tremaine refused to let the servants have more space than they needed, this led to Ida and Ashley sharing the attic on the top floor. She dismissed the servants exactly 2 months later, saying that they were lacking the funds to pay them. However both Ida and Ashley knew that they hadn't been paid in over 3 months.

The lack of other company led to Ida and Ashley both making friends with the mice and other animals that resided in the discrete holes in the house. The Tremaines didn't know of this of course, if they did then the treatment that the pair received would have been much worse than it already was.

By the time Ida and Ashley were 19, the funds that Ashley's father had left them had been thoroughly exploited and not a single penny was left. The only riches that remained untouched was what Lord Tremaine had left his wife and sons in his will, however Lady Tremaine refused to use these funds to ensure that Ashley had nothing left to him by his father.

Ashley, of course, was unaware of this. And would be until he was nearing his twenty-first birthday, by that time he would have nothing left. During the course of the year that Lady Tremaine lived in the house after Ashley's father had passed, she had sold all of the precious things that Ashley held dear. They were all brought back from his parents travels from before they had him and moved into the mansion. Each object held different, yet happy, memories and now they were all sold there was nothing that stopped Ashley from fleeing the house. 

Except his kind nature. 

He refused to leave behind his beloved animal friends and didn't want his workload piled onto Ida who begged him to leave. She received better treatment than Ashley, simply because she was employed by the late Lord Tremaine as a servant for his household. Lady Tremaine didn't want her to leave in fear of disappointing her late husband. This however, did not stop her from treating Ashley like he was: a servant. She always gave him chores to do that had been done only an hour previously. She verbally abused him to the extent that he would cry himself silently to sleep each night. 

However, he kept himself to himself and only the mice knew of the torture that was bestowed upon him each day. Unfortunately they were able to only sit there and watch. Although they were only mice they were rather clever, they knew that if they showed themselves then the result of that could be drastic. They could be turfed out and have to take refuge in the barn near Greyfell, Ashley's horse that he rode into the town most days. As nice a horse Greyfell was, he could easily squash the mice whilst moving around in his pen. That was something that did not sound appealing to the mice at all.

Luckily for them, Greyfell would never purposely try to step on them, if ever he did it was an accident. Ashley tried to make sure that the mice and his large grey steed were never together for to long in the fear that they might harm themselves. Luckily it never happened and whenever he went into the town the mice stayed home to keep Ida company.  

Ida had never been to the town on a horse before. She was scared of what might happen if Greyfell, or any horse for that matter, spooked and she fell off. Before Lord Tremaine had passed she knew she would not be blamed for the matter, however now she was unsure of the punishment. Instead she left the chores that required going to the market town to Ashley, she knew that he enjoyed the feeling of galloping across an open meadow and it gave him time away from the house and the people that lived under it's black slate roof. 

Ashley was grateful for this, he knew the treatment that Ida received was far less severe than his own and he always looked forward to seeing his friends in the market: the shop owners and the people who used to work for his father before they were dismissed only a year ago. He and Greyfell had a very close friendship, they would do anything for each other and it was not unusual to see Ashley galloping through a grassy meadow on Greyfell's dappled back with nothing to help guide him. 'It's all about trust', is what his father used to say when he taught 7 year old Ashley to ride. 

His kitchen friends were no different when they taught his to dance as a 17 year old. They would spend hours switching hands and spinning around the kitchen floor after it had been cleaned. His father would watch with a sad smile as he remembered his late wife whilst watching Ashley dance with the kitchen maids, laughing and smiling, a light in his eyes. 

If there was one thing that Ashley remembered from his mother it was they one thing she always said when he got sad or unhappy. 'Be happy and stay strong, you never know what might become of it.' 

Over the years of torture from his step family, that was one of the few things that had kept him going. He was determined in keeping the memory of his mother and father alive, even if only in his head.

_"Be happy and stay strong, you never know what might become of it"_


	2. Faye Bennett

Faye Bennett was no princess. By blood maybe, however not by persona. Faye much preferred to gallop across the open fields on her cherry coloured chestnut mare: Epona, than to sit in the palace stitching roses onto white fabric all day.

Her father knew all about this of course, after years of trying to coax Faye into enjoying lady-like activities, they never appealed to her, she would always rather come out with the guards hunting and chasing the hounds all over the countryside surrounding the palace walls.

Her father, the king of the small kingdom, believed that a maternal figure would have helped her to become the lady she was supposed to have been. However, he dared not to re-marry after Faye's mother died whilst Faye whilst just turned 4.

Luckily for him, Faye didn't seem to mind to much that she didn't have a mother, instead she adopted the house keepers into the role, (To which they willingly agreed to). Naturally she missed having a singular maternal figure, however she suppressed the feelings of sadness for she knew she had to be strong for her grieving father. 

Faye was always a strong figure, she never gave up: especially in what she believed in. This led her to gain the freedom of roaming around the city outside the palace walls without a guard to accompany her, just Faye and Epona.

However her first outing was not quite what she expected, as she walked through the dirt ridden streets she soon realised that people were not used to seeing the royals unaccompanied. Many a time she noticed children running into huts that she presumed to be their homes. A place in which someone should feel safe, was made of scraps of metal and looked as if it could break any second. 

Soon Faye found herself bringing scraps of food to hand out to the people on the streets and ended up making friends with nearly all of the shopkeepers. However most of all, she found herself respected. 

Although before they bowed to her, she knew it was simply because of common courtesy. But now, as much as they saw her as a friend rather than a royal, they bowed with respect and admiration for they knew she would be a kind and considerate ruler, maybe even more so than her father if that was possible. 

The Grand Duke never agreed to this arrangement, nor had he been pleased with the prospect of the future Queen riding outside the palace walls alone and was further displeased by it when he saw how the princess was being treated by the people of the city. Nevertheless, Faye refused to abide by his morals and continued to treat the common folk as friends rather than subjects. 

The king, for once, agreed with his daughter on this matter. He realised that the people responded better if they knew they could trust the people who protected the kingdom that they resided in. A rash decision was made and he too joined the princess, his daughter, out for her daily ride in the market town that sat just half a mile outside the palace gates. They agreed, after an afternoon of heated arguments and silent lunches, that one guard would join them just as a precaution whilst they went out, and that the housekeeper, Prudence, would run the castle whilst the pair were away.

Faye and her father never got along that well, they both had different political views on how to run the kingdom and her father had changed drastically since her mothers death. He became less carefree and focused more on his kingdom than his growing daughter and the kingdom noticed this. They stopped seeing the royals after Faye's mother died and the whole kingdom fell into mourning for weeks, nonetheless this didn't dampen Faye's happy spirit, and she refused to let it. 

Instead she settled in the library for hours on end, reading about the different families that lived, past and presently, in the kingdom of Wedgemore. Not only that, but the different generations of her family and how they each ran the kingdom when in power. She read books about politics, livestock, money management, staff management and different types of hierarchy. Faye also managed to start educating herself about Science, English, Mathematics and foreign languages such as Latin, Greek and Spanish from the age of 10.

By the time she was 17 she could speak near fluent Latin, was incredibly well taught in Science, specifically biology, English and Mathematics and knew the book about common courtesy as a Queen almost cover to cover. 

Even still, her father thought it best to hire her a tutor to make sure that everything she said she had learnt was engrained into her head, and it was. Faye surpassed the expectations of her tutor and she had nothing left to teach her. If anything, Faye ended up taking the role of tutor and teaching the tutor things about Science and Mathematics, along with phrases in Latin and Greek.

This left Faye's father with nothing left to keep his daughter busy and he had no choice but to include her in the royal council meetings that were held every week in the council room down the hall from the throne room. 

However, this seemed to be a bad choice. Her opinions were dismissed immediately, over-ruled by the councillors employed by the King who said that they were uneducated and were not valid enough to even be considered by the council, let alone carried out. 

This, however, was contradicted when the Captain of the guard suggested the same idea not 20 minutes later. The councillors suggested they think about it and within the week the idea had been implanted into the system. Faye quickly came to realise that he opinions that she put into the council were not valid and uneducated simply because she was female, and females apparently had no place in the council room. 

This left the future Queen bitter towards the old men of the council, her father for not even attempting to let her have a say, but also the Captain who she thought was her friend. They used to play in the palace gardens when they were but only 10 years old and Faye was appalled at the idea that he was stealing his ideas for his own gain. For he too was an educated man, surely he knew better than to use ideas that were not his own?

Luckily he came and quickly cleared things up so Faye could not become to bitter towards him. They soon came up with a plan that she would suggest ideas to him and he would put them forward in the weekly council meetings and most of the time, Faye would find that her ideas had been implemented within that very week. 

But, things change and sometimes not always for the better. When Faye's father fell drastically ill he was bedridden for months and 18 year old Faye was left to run the kingdom in his absence. The Captain stood at her side, supporting her through each decision she made. Swaps of good and produce, knighting soldiers, hiring servants, buying animals, overseeing growing crops, all this while her father was ill in bed, not knowing if he would make it through the night. 

Alistair frequently found her collapsed over her fathers bed, her eyes puffy from crying and the white sheets stained with tears and each time he would have to carry the sleeping princess to her room where her maids could take over and get her ready for bed. 

He knew things were hard for her. The tough outer shell she put on only increased his level of respect for her, shame it did not do the same with the Grand Duke who hated the idea that he was being ordered around by a girl half his age. However, things were only going to get harder from here, he had seen the letters that were strewn all over Faye's desk in her study. Stamped with a number of different seals and signatures from different lands and an all manner of different royal families. 

They were going to war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be taking ideas from both the 1950s version, which I grew up with, and the 2015 version, which is my current favourite movie. So things like the war, the personality of the fairy-god mother and the singing will be taken from the 2015 version however I will be taking parts from the 1950s version such as the letter, the mice making Ashley's outfit and the near kiss at the ball. I will try to make them as original as possible by adding in my own lines and changing them a bit, but these are some of my favourite scenes so I really wanted to include them. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	3. First Glance

Faye picked up the reins that attached to Epona's bridle and led her out of the brightly lit stable. Horses whinnied and snorted, stamping their feet as Epona was led past their stables and down the wide corridor to the yard just outside. Her father and the guard, whos name was Arthur, were standing by the black iron rail that ran around the stable block and it's yard, just a few hundred yards east from the place.

Epona's ears pricked at the new sounds and sights of the outside world and she danced about as if her feet were balanced on hot coals.

Due to royal affairs that required Faye's dire attention she had not been able to ride out with her father, who had gotten marginally better since the war between the kingdoms had started not 2 years previous. A majority of their men were off fighting and it was up to the king to employ new soldiers to dispatch and fight in their army. Faye had been left to run the kingdom instead, with her educated and non-biased opinions the kingdom flourished.

This caused the people loved her even more than they did before and they anticipated her daily visit with great excitement. Even Epona, who had a general dislike towards anyone but Faye, had become quite smitten with the children that ran around the market town, and looked forward to the short ride down the dirt path that she had become so familiar with.

Today happened to be one of those much anticipated days and Faye checked over her saddle to make sure everything was in place. She gathered her reins in her left hand and held the stirrup steady in her right hand. Placing her left foot in the stirrup she bounced up and swung her right leg over the back of the saddle, using her right hand to guide the other metal stirrup to her booted foot.

With a small squeeze of her ankles Faye was walking Epona down the cobble stone yard towards the path that led through some fields they could canter through.

||

Ashley pulled the clothes down from the washing line that was positioned across the back yard just above his head. Chucking the pegs into a small tin bucket, he dropped the last of the clothes into a woven willow basket and placed the bucket on a stool by the door. Picking up the basket he hurriedly walked through the doorway into the back of the kitchen where Ida was washing clothes in the sink. The sound of the bell ringing struck his ears and he rushed to place the basket on the table behind Ida before running to see what chores the Tremaines wish him to complete.

"Wash all of these first and then-"

"No clean my room from top to bottom first."

"No do my chores first."

"No, mine."

Ashley stood in the corner of the shared bedroom, hidden by the mountain of clothes that had been thrown at him by his step-brothers in their bid to have their chores done first.

It was times like this when the mistreated servant boy actually felt pity for these two miscreants. Had you not been aware of their disastrous personality, then there was the chance that you might think they had some form of charm. They looked decently attractive on the outside it was simply their inner beauty, or rather lack of it, that let them down. Ashley silently hoped that someone could look past their shallow nature and bring out a more caring side to them, however he knew not to wish to hard for the Lady Tremaine only wanted her sons to be married to wealthy ladies, her highest hope being the princess. 

When Ashley told Ida of the Lady Tremaines high hopes for her sons, Ida laughed so hard she dropped her basket of laundry. It was safe to say that Ida received twice as many lashings for that small mistake. She was ordered to re-wash the clothing three times over until it had been deemed clean enough to be put away.

The twins found it highly amusing to keep Ida re-washing their bed sheets and finery until their mother thought enough of their endeavours and commanded that Ida put away the garments and make the beds. 

Clearly the twins did not think that practising their arts was entertainment enough, so they ventured outside and sought to wreck havoc amongst the animals and garden. They let Greyfell loose from the paddock, purposely left the hatch to the chicken coop open, trampled the flowerbeds that Ashley's mother had planted years previously and threw animal muck all over the well at the front of the house. 

Anyone would think they were still children, however the truth was that they were nearing 21 years old. Anyone would have also had their children married and in different kingdoms by now, however Lady Tremaine only wanted the highest authority and richest brides for her sons and refused anyone who even proposed the idea. This eventually lead to families deciding to abandon the idea of asking the Lady Tremaine for a marriage between their daughter and one of her sons. 

Ashley only knew about this because of his, now, daily trips into town. The Tremaines had ordered that Ashley take a trip into town and head to the seamstress for new clothes, though it wasn't like they had enough already. 

It was one morning like this, when Ashley had been sent in to buy necessities such as bread and cheese, that Ashley saw a bright chestnut horse trotting down the main path that ran through the market, it's rider riding up and down with the horses movement. He soon noticed that everyone was bowing their heads as the rider came past and he assumed that it must have been a royal, he had heard that the Princess Faye had started riding back out recently however he hadn't suspected it to be true. 

Upon closer inspection he decided that it was the princess, not only from her clothing which he had failed to recognise, but from the way she carried herself. As he was so deep in thought he forgot to bow his head as the princess trotted past however she merely smiled at him, signalling it was ok that he forgot. This eased his mind and he smiled back as the royal passed him. 

His first glance at royalty. 

Ashley had to admit, she was very beautiful and he could see why all men would want to marry her. However, he knew that men would not only succumb to a pretty face, their families would want a handsome dowry for their son and the royal family would have no trouble paying it off. 

Shaking his head, Ashley grasped Greyfell's thick mane in his hands and pulled himself up onto the dappled horses bare back. He turned him around and spurred him into a steady canter, weaving in and out of the people and towards the track that led to the fields surrounding his family home and his unloving family.


	4. Thoughts and Butterflies

It had been a month since Ashley and Faye had caught each others eye and since then, small smiles and nods of the head had been exchanged in the streets when they passed. Truthfully, Ashley interested the royal princess. It was uncommon to have a male dressed in such a way and to act in such a way that they seemed terrified of each and every stranger that passed them. 

The social hierarchy saw the males as the dominant gender, which Faye saw as highly unfair, and the females were always submissive. They did as they were told without question or doubt. This was tradition, females were seen as weak and there was little in the way of changing peoples views. 

However, this was something that the Princess sought to change when she became queen. She wanted a husband who would treat her equally and not some sort of sex slave that he could push around and do as he pleased. 

Unfortunately, the more time Faye spent with the male species the more she discovered that they were generally the same. Power crazed. Sex crazed. Most of all, abusive. In the little time that she had spent with the suitors that her father picked out for her to marry the more she realised that there was little hope that she would find a man who cared for her as a person and not her status. 

Very few people were truly kind in this world; if they were then they wanted something for it. Whether it be gold, a favour in return or in some extreme cases: a life. The young royal had heard stories of people asking for favours and lives being lost because of it, frankly it was something she hoped to never come across. She knew as a queen she would have to bargain and barter with other kingdoms and royals about goods and trade, the kingdom had a close relationship with its surrounding kingdoms so Faye knew there was little chance of her losing her head after asking for a crate of apples, however one could never be to sure. 

Especially with the war happening. 

It had been nearly 2 years since the beginning of the war and the King had sent off most of the troops to fight. Many lives had been lost and there was no hiding the horrible truth from anyone: They were losing. The princess wasn't to interested in the strategies of warfare, nor did she want to be involved. Faye would much prefer to talk to the people of the kingdom, especially the boy she had been briefly seeing over the past few weeks. 

He seemed like the kind of person that Faye would want to make herself known to. He seemed a kind soul who couldn't hurt a fly and that was something that was nearly unheard of these days. That was when she made a decision. A rather rash decision mind, however it wasn't as if the princess cared much for the consequences of her actions as this point. The guards were going on a hunt and Faye saw this as her chance to escape the palace walls and try to find the boy. 

Picking up her skirts she ran out of the gardens, nearly running into butterfly on the way. "Oops, sorry" She called behind her, not having enough time to turn around and properly apologise to the poor animal. 

People often found it strange that she talked to the animals that resided in the garden, however over time they had gotten used to it and started to make sense of why their princess was talking to the little white mice that lived in the palace or her equine friend in the stables. 

Reaching the quarters of her good friend Alistair, the Captain of the guard, she knocked on the door and wait the few seconds for him to arrive at the door. He invited her in without a second hesitation and she immediately headed towards his bed where she sat down.

"I need some clothes" She stated bluntly, folding her arms over her chest. Alistair looked at her in disbelief.

"Faye... You have clothes. A whole room full, why do you need some of mine?" He closed the door and walked over towards the princess and flopped onto the bed next to her. 

"You and the guardsmen are going out on a hunt right? I'm coming and I need clothes. Father has gotten really strict with me leaving the castle lately and I need to leave here before I lose my mind." She replied, falling onto her back so she was lying down. 

"I don't know about this. If your father finds out then we both know that I won't be working here any longer." 

"Don't worry about him, I can handle when it comes to it. I just need some clothes to use as a disguise so I can escape the castle. You can have them back after that." Faye grinned at him, and Alistair sighed. 

Alistair paused to think before replying"I get into trouble, then I am dragging you as far down with me as you will go." Pushing himself up he walked over to the wardrobe by the window and pulled out a pair of breeches and a jacket and shirt. 

"Thank you Alistair, I'll see you in a minute." Faye grabbed the clothes out of his hand and ran out through the door and back to her chambers, dodging servants as she went, not hearing Alistair mutter to himself as he closed the door.

"You're welcome you crazy princess."

Grabbing his black hunting boots he pulled them onto his feet and stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind him before walking down the hall towards the staircase that led to the back courtyard. 

The sound of running his his ears and he turned to see Faye slowing to a walk behind him, clad in his cream breeches and jacket with her own black shirt, while clipping her hair back with a simple pin. 

"What about-" 

"We gallop away from the palace which means, even if my father did see us, he wouldn't recognise me because my hair is pinned back. And your shirt was to big which explains this one" She interrupted, pulling at a bit of her shirt to show him what she meant. 

"That fair enough I suppose, but what of the boots?" The pair started to walk towards the stables to ready Epona for the hunt and Faye set about adjusting her clothing to make sure she didn't seem to 'feminine'

"I bought them off of a shoemaker a couple of months ago however I hadn't had the chance to wear them until now. Any other questions you want to ask me before we get to the stables?" Faye questioned, her authoritative nature taking over. 

"No, i only need to say that you may keep the clothes. They don't fit me anymore as they are to small. You may be able to use them as a disguise in the future."

The pair stopped and smiled at each other before straightening their backs and striding towards the stable to saddle their horses.


	5. Family Defeats

Today was the day. Today was the day that Ashley would try and talk to the princess. She seemed like an approachable person so surely she wouldn't mind being subjected to pointless conversations with the commoners... Would she?

Ashley looked at the clock, Faye arrived at the town as soon as the church bells tolled mid-day and it was nearing half past eleven. There were no excuses that he could think of so he would be able to escape into the town. Looking around to make sure there was no one in the kitchen, he took the basket of bread and emptied it out of the window and right into the pigs pen. They immediately devoured the chunks of bread that had been aimlessly thrown into their home and left no scraps for the hungry mice.

"Oh, there you are! I'm sorry. I will come back with more bread later and perhaps I can sneak a few crumbs to you later, how does that sound?" A small smile crossed Ashley's face as he looked at the nodding mice that stood before him.

"Well time to go tell the dreadful news to Madame Tremaine about the food stock." The young servant stood up from his position on the floor and dusted his black trousers free from the dust that marred the kitchen floor. His step-family never ventured into the kitchen so Ashley nor Ida saw any need to clean it.

"Ash!" A high pitched screech came from outside and Ashley turned to see a flash of brightly coloured clothing and hair standing outside in the courtyard.

Arden.

His red hair stood out amongst the green of the trees that surrounded the courtyard at the back of the house, his brightly coloured clothes were hard to miss in any circumstance and unfortunately the blonde haired servant boy wasn't quick enough to hide from his step-brothers hawk like eyes.

"Ash get your worthless self out here before I come and beat the shit out of you!" Arden screeched again. Ashley knew better than to ignore their demands if he didn't want a beating, he scrambled out of the door and shuffled towards his step-brother.

"Yes Arden?" He asked tentatively, shuffling his feet on the loose stones.

"Step mother wants to talk to you in the drawing room." The smug smirk that Arden wore was not a good sign. It could mean anything, however it never meant anything good.

"May I enquire as to what she wishes to talk to me about?"

"You may, however it would be useless to ask me as I know nothing." Arden began to tap his foot against the cobblestones, it was clear to Ashley that his temper was beginning to show.

"I see, thank you Arden." Ashley turned around and started to walk away towards the entrance to the kitchen when he was pulled back by Arden.

Arden pulled him back by his arm, causing Ashley to twist to keep his balance, and punched him in the gut. Ashley doubled over, the pain spreading like wildfire as he felt the need to be sick rising up his throat.

"That's for chucking the bread out to those filthy pigs you call your friends. I don't think you quite understand how pathetic you are do you Ash? You are a servant boy and that is all you will ever be. Dreams won't help you no matter what you think and those disgusting animals won't help you out. In fact, I think I should have mother call someone to get rid of them." Arden's mouth twisted into a sick smile, his eyes showing the amusement he found in the pain he was causing. "Yes, I think that is a splendid idea. I shall propose the idea to mother immediately." Arden stood up straight and pushed the wheezing servant boy off of him. He turned to walk away before pausing and looking over his shoulder.

"Know your place servant boy."

Ashley looked up from the grey stones on the floor and saw the blurred figure of Arden as he walked away. Clutching his stomach he slowly pushed himself up onto his knees, letting his eyes adjust before pushing himself up onto his feet. The boy took a breath before walking towards the kitchen and heading to the drawing room where his step-mother was waiting for him. Hopefully Arden had kept true to what he said and had talked to Lady Tremaine about getting rid of the animals. Arden wasn't clever enough to figure out that the produce the animals gave was next to the only income they had and Ashley knew that the Lady Tremaine would refuse the idea immediately.

Ashley soon arrived at the drawing room and saw Drake standing outside listening to the conversation that was happened inside. The door burst open and Arden burst out, his eyes blazing with fury as he walked past everyone and up the stairs to his room. The Lady Tremaine walked out after him and glared at Ashley, her green eyes burning into Ashley's head as he looked at the floor.

"You stupid child! Are you that incompetent that you managed to rip Arden's best clothing!"

The sound of a slap echoed throughout the halls of the house. Ashley's right cheek was burning and the faint outline of a hand print could be seen on it. The Lady Tremaines hand was still held in mid-air and Drake stood in the corner muffling his laugh behind his hand.

"Drake, leave us" Lady Tremaine spoke authoritatively and Drake immediately scurried up the stairs towards his brothers room. The Lady Tremaine grabbed Ashley's left upper arm and dragged him inside the room, slamming the doors shut behind her.

The cries of Ashley could be heard all the way up in the attic where the poor mice resided and the animals outside grew restless at hearing the pained cries of their only human friend. The Tremaines however, their smiles only grew as their servant felt the repeated beatings that were inflicted upon him.

Ida tensed at hearing her best friends cries for the Lady Tremaine to stop but she didn't. It sounded as if the beatings only got more severe as time went on. This couldn't go on, someone needed to know how much pain Ashley was going through. Ida was sworn to secrecy and the Tremaines didn't know that the animals understood what was happening.

The girl stepped outside onto the steps and rested her forearms on the metal rails and sighed.

Someone please save him.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to say that this is my own work that I decided to post on here as well as Wattpad so this is entirely my own story so please don't say I stole it because I promise you that I didn't.


End file.
